Good Evening, my Darling,
I know it's late but maybe you are still awake. I am just getting home from Pearl's, and while she was at Golden Agers, I did my biggest hike yet, to the top of Mission Point. That's the one I've been talking about for the past week or so. I initially drove up there just to check out the trail, see how wide it was, what kind of condition it was in, how steep, etc. Many of the reviews I read said it was a tough hike. The trailhead is close, just about 6 miles away, so I thought I'd just drive up, hike a little ways down the trail, check it out, and then come back and eventually do the whole thing.
But then I started going, and the trail was not too bad. Steep, and a steady incline, but it was nice and wide so I didn't feel like I was walking a tightrope. I knew it was 1.75 miles to the top, almost a continuous incline, almost 2000 feet elevation gain, by far the highest climb I've made. Mission Point (some call it Peak) is about 2800 feet, the second highest mountain in the Santa Susanas.
So, I started going, and it was strenuous, but pretty soon I'd gone about a half mile.......and then before I knew it I was about halfway up, and I said the heck with it, and I finished the whole thing, all the way to the top. Took about 50 minutes. On flat ground I could walk 1.75 miles in half that. They have a nice stone bench installed at the top, named in honor of a local man whose love for the trail made it a destination for Valley hikers. So, now I can say I've made it to the highest hikeable point in the Valley. Oat Mountain is 1000 feet higher, but has no hiking trails that I am aware of.
One scary note: semi-scary, anyway. I got a little bit lost on the way down. (oy!) Maybe a quarter mile from the top, there is a hairpin turn in the trail, where it is also intersected by another wide trail. The intersection doesn't form a perfect cross, so all the offshooting trails kind of lead up and down in similar directions. Coming down, I'd forgotten about the hairpin turn, and I missed it and took the wrong trail. I realised this perhaps ten minutes later, but as I'd come a good ways down the mountain, I just thought, "I'll keep going. All the other trails at other parks loop together at some point, hopefully this one will too". Well, hopefully nothing doing!
I was maybe a half mile down this unfamiliar trail when it turned a corner and came to a dead end up against the side of the mountain.
"Oh no" : Me.
I had to trudge all the way back to the crazy intersection of trails near the top, uphill once again. Luckily I'm in pretty good shape. Also, it was the usual Hundred Degree Hike. For some crazy reason I thrive in the heat. But this was starting to suck pretty bad, lol. Back at the crazy intersection, I tried continuing on the same trail, in the opposite direction. By this time I was trying to be much more cautious and aware. The problem was that everything was looking the same, just trail and hillside. So, I went about a quarter mile in that direction, and I came to a copse of trees, throwing a shade pattern like you see in a lot of my pictures.
"There was no copse of trees on the way up" : Me.
Then I looked down and saw tire tracks. There is a huge Gas Company facility behind the mountain, and I guessed I was on one of their pipeline roads, or a fire road, but I knew then that it wasn't the trail I'd come up on. It was now about 1pm. I had to be at Pearl's church in one hour to pick her up. For a moment, I had visions of having to call 911: "Help, I'm stuck on the side of a mountain".
But, I knew I wasn't too far from the crazy intersection of trails, and I knew that was the key. So, I went back uphill again, for about a quarter mile. At the crazy intersection, I stopped. "Get your bearings, you dummy" : Me to Self.
Also : "Please Lord, help me find the trail I came up on".
I stood there for a minute or so, and then I noticed the hairpin turn that led to an offshoot. It looked like a nice wide trail.
"That's gotta be it".
It was 1:15. Almost an hour since my original departure from the bench at the top. I knew if I got it wrong again, I was gonna be very late for picking up Pearl. Maybe I would have to call 911 after all. Or maybe another hiker would come along and I could ask directions. The good thing was that I knew I'd come up past the crazy intersection of trails. That much I recognised. And I'd already gotten two choices wrong, so the odds were getting better in my favor.
I took the hairpin turn, and within about a hundred yards, I knew I was back on the right trail. I saw some rocks that someone had lined along the ridgeline, perhaps for that very reason - as a marker.
"Thank You, Lord"!
I looked at my phone, and it was 1:19. 41 minutes to make it a mile and three quarters down the mountain and drive the 6 miles back to Pearl's church. Slim chance I was gonna make it, but......
......very often the Golden Agers meetings run long. More often than not, Pearl doesn't come out the gate til 2:10 or 2:15. Maybe this would be one of those times.
Well, going down was a lot easier than coming up. Though I had to put on the brakes a lot and take baby steps cause of the steepness, I still made it down in only 33 minutes. I started the car at 1:52pm.
They say you shouldn't drink and drive, but I downed about a half gallon of water coming down Sesnon Boulevard, the road from the trailhead. Tons of traffic at that time of day. 2pm passed. By 2:10 I was back at the edge of Northridge, just a couple miles from the church.
I pulled in at exactly 2:15. Pearl was waiting in the parking lot, but I could see other Golden Agers members just getting in their cars, so it didn't look too bad.
"Hi Pearl, are you just getting out"?
"Oh, we finished about five minutes ago".
"Sorry I'm late".
"I've only been waiting a couple minutes, I was talking to my friends".
So all was well. I took Pearl back home. I didn't tell her I went up a mountain while she was at church.
It was pretty crazy, my most intense hike yet. But it's really not too bad as long as you know the way.
You are probably asleep by now for sure, but I will post anyway, and then write more tonight, for when you wake up. I hope you had a great day, and that school has started off well, and that you are seeing the sights and soaking in the culture. I'll bet you are loving it!
I Love You, Elizabeth! Sweet Dreams, in case you are still up, and I will see you in the morning.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
11:45pm : Good Morning, my Darling. I trust your day is off to a good start, and you may be in class already. I have nothing major to add to the day's activities here. I've just been reading my LBJ book this eve, and relaxing. I didn't have to do my walk this eve, because I did it all on the mountain.
I hope you have a great day. I Love You. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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